Monday, October 22, 2012

Last night was our long awaited black tie affair, Joe and Heidi's wedding at Vibiana in downtown LA. Needless to say, it was a gorgeous wedding. So lah-tee-dah but also so quirky and personal and fun. They brought in so much of themselves to the wedding, and it was an honor to be a guest.

But let's rewind to the real main event- getting dressed up!! If you've been paying attention, I rented my gown from Rent The Runway which was SUCH a good experience. I can't recommend them more. I polled my peeps and the Badgley Mischka Meshing Around gown was the winner, so I ordered that one up in two sizes (for one price you get two dresses in two sizes to make sure one fits perfectly). Fast forward to the day before the dresses were set to arrive, I get a call from RTR saying that my back up size was no longer available and they were SO sorry and allowed me to choose any other gown as my back up, regardless of price. So HELLLLOOOO $2600 Arabian Sea gown! They arrive via UPS in a nice garment bag along with a little gift baggie of samples, including fashion tape which the teal gown needed. Such a nice bonus! The day after your event, you toss both dresses back in the padded pre-paid envelope they provide (the garment bag is yours to keep) and drop them off at the post office. Done and done. Easy, affordable, and so fun. DO IT. (But if you do, let me know and I'll send you an invite because then I get credits towards more rentals! And you know I need that gold sequin gown...)

So anyways, I'm all thumbs when it comes to doing my hair, and somehow a messy ponytail bun and pompadour bangs didn't feel right for this occasion, so I treated myself and got my hairs did at Surrender Salon with my girl Josie. Lynne was there and took pictures.

I should take a picture of the pile of 57 bobby pins that were in that updo but I'm too lazy to get up. If Jeff and I ever become millionaires, I'm hiring a personal hair stylist to live with me and do my hair every day like Ken Paves and Jessica Simpson. It was great.

On to the dresses! The Alberta Ferretti Arabian Sea gown was definitely my favorite, I loved it so much, but it just wasn't right for this wedding. I matched Jeff better in the black gown, plus this was pretty attention grabbing, which I'm kind of shy about. Maybe for another fancy pants event when I don't have a big zit on my back. It was fun to have it on for a few minutes though.

The back is so pretty. I love the deep V and the one long sleeve. The dress was kind of crazy short though which was weird. Still looked good with my nude Jessica Simpson heels though.

I was a big fan of the draping in the front too. So fashionable.

And here we are all spiffed up in our chosen outfits. Lynne took a bunch of pictures but we were dumb and only did them in one room where the light was way too bright. None of us are photographers. Oh well. These ones will do. I also could not use quite a few because my husband is 16 and likes to make faces at the camera. Sigh.

By the way, these heels are also the Jessica Simpson Abrianas. They are amazing. Perfectly rounded toe, one inch platform, and the perfect thickness heel. They were very comfortable. Much more so than the teal Badgley Mischka's that I sadly had to return because they were impossible to walk in. BUT, for the price of those, I got both pairs of these! Every girl needs a great pair of black and nude heels. It really makes me realize though the height disparity between Jeff and I. Look how much taller he still is, despite my 5-6 inch heels!

And because Roger requested the Angelina leg shot, here you go:

And the Mom Angelina pose:

So we get to Vibiana, which is gorgeous, and first thing we see is their wedding Be@rbrick. I think Jeff was tempted to grab it and run.

Is it just me, or are those penises on the gates?

Vibiana is all Carrera marble and churchy chic, so their orchid arrangements that were the size of an overstuffed armchair fit in perfectly. The other arrangements (Mandy) were pale pink roses and hydrangeas. Very pretty.

Here we are geeking out before the ceremony. This was just a distraction to keep me from taking pictures of their famous guests. I won't name drop here though because that's tacky. (Jin from Lost!)

And the happily newly married couple! Check out Heidi's orchid bouquet! HUGE!

Oops, out of order, but again- lazy. Her dress was beautiful, so princessy. Huge skirt and a really long veil. Really elegant.

That veil continued for like another 13 feet.

I told Mandy I was bringing home all of these orchid arrangements after the wedding, but sadly we had to leave on the earlier side to relieve the babysitter and I was a little self conscious trying to steal one of these and tie it to the roof of our Mazda.

These were the table centerpieces, so cool! Be@rbricks and flowers, on top of a gold and white sequin chevron tablecloth. Fancy!

And the wedding cake! Jana could have done this, no problem. Would have been a cake walk for her. Got that?! It made R2D2 noises and had a glowing light and the head spun too. It was delicious too. Dulce de leche was the slice I got, with a buttercream frosting. Yum.

Our wedding favors were mini Be@rbricks in these boxes. Guess who got mine? (And in case you're curious, the F stands for fish, not female which I thought at first. Andy had a B and I assumed it was for boy, when in fact it was beef. I'm hella smart.)

Party time! The reception was in the same hall the ceremony was in, but blue lights made it seem much cooler.

Andy and I were table mates. He's hilarious.

And I swear, about 94% of the girls at this wedding were wearing black, but it just so happened our 4 girlfriends there that I'm posing with were the colorful ones. I wish Rose's heels came out in this picture (she's all the way to the left). They were glitter and awesome.